Mary Marsh

Mary Marsh was an American Christian right activist.

Biography
Mary Marsh was a member of the Christian right, and she engaged in a televised debate with White House Deputy Chief of Staff Josh Lyman in 1999, in which insults were exchanged, culminating in Lyman saying, "Lady, the God you pray to is too busy being indicted for tax fraud." This caused controversy, with the Christian right claiming that Josiah Bartlet's entire administration was "anti-Christian". Although Lyman gave an apology to Marsh, Marsh instead wanted the government to submit to the Christian right's views on either pornography (its ban), condoms (the preaching of abstinence instead), or school prayer (allowing for students to pray in school). Later, the situation was defused when President Bartlet interrupted the meeting of the Christian right leaders and his staff members, telling the Christian right members that they would not be welcomed back into the White House until they denounced the Christian extremists who threatened his granddaughter. They were eventually forced to do so, and Marsh later lobbied for the entry of persecuted Chinese Christians into the United States in 2000.